WEEK 34: PRAYER OF GRATITUDE BY ERINN SHAUGHNESSY

Let me start out by saying what we do know…
     Things are hard.
            We are resilient.
                 We can change.
 
I want to open with a prayer to Jesus, for giving us everything we’ve been given.
 
A gift.
       Truly.
              Of life.
 
Thank you for your joyous abundance that we see,
       and then unsee sometimes.
Thank you for your gift of an offering,
       an experience of life and death.
The same treasure we are all given,
       yet seem to forget about.
Distractions. They are everywhere.
       Anything that exists can distract us from The Source of everything.
Life altering abundance,
       in a simple whiff of a feeling, of thanks.
The most powerful energy comes from this moment of praise.
       An offering, the only one we are equipped to send up.
Thank you, Alleluia!
       You are righteous, we are not and yet: This.
A feeling shoots up my fingertips, my toes, my spine.
       THANK YOU!
A force inside of me purrs and reminds me,
       I’m here.
The offering of contentment you only feel,
       when you are humbled in a moment of deep gratitude.
We don't think of gratitude as an offering,
       mostly thinking of it as a state.
A place to be in to give ourselves pleasure,
       because pleasure surely comes.
A pinging of emotion opens up inside of us,
       when we look around and feel awe.
A burden leaves our shoulders
       for as long as we can cover ourselves in this thanks.
Dear Lord, you are righteous,
       we are not and yet: This.
Thank you, God for the gifts we’ve been given at every single moment.
       Thank you for this, here, now.
It never stops.
       He never ends.
Thank you for allowing us to feel GLORY,
       whenever we praise you tickling the insides of our arms, our legs, our scalps.
He is good.
 
Matthew 10:27 - “The things that I say to you in the evening, speak ye in the light.” 
 
Okay, I’ll start: I NEED you God. I need you Jesus. Thank you!

Erinn Shaughnessy is a writer and painter living and working in Oklahoma. She graduated from Oklahoma Baptist University in 2016 where she studied Philosophy. She is interested in natural health, art, family, friends, and dreaming of her childhood donut shop that is no longer in business. She loves to write letters and has big plans to single handedly save the US Postal Service.

---